Stavanger Bay rows of houses sound asleep
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#1
Joining 
It was time.

The earthen stone rose, and limber trees swayed with the shift between their branches. Twin lights blinked from within a face masked by its own shadows, and painted by those cast by the glowing set of dusk. He had wandered, watched, and waited; he had done so long enough. Albatross circled overhead, low enough for their calls to find their way down to the expanse of loamy soil shifting to sand. Gallows slipped between the sentinels and stopped short of crossing the divide.

Distant, his ears picked up the familiar rise of shanties and laughter, and he closed his eyes. The shoreline swam with the scent of wolfkind and fermentation amidst the saltwater sting. It all brought his lips to quiver with the slightest perk. How he had missed this, and Gallows exhaled in a settled breath and brought his head to tip toward the seabirds. There were no second thoughts nor hesitation to give. His deep voice slid forth to glide across the sands, to summon these pirates and beckon out the pallid captain at their helm.
Fear is the heart of love
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There was an influx of joiners it appeared, experienced seadogs, a few of whom knew their Captain.  Rosalyn appreciated it, though she wondered what sort of skills they brought.  It was good to know Erzulie had some healing beneath her, but there were others they were lacking.  Diplomacy being one.

Another call came, and she attended it swiftly, coming up on a man who remained respectfully back, as they all did.  She pulled up silently, her ears pricked, and waited.  Usually they began with an intro, and she would reciprocate after.
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He waited, but these pirates proved a fleet-footed bunch. The echoes of his call hadn't even eroded by the time he saw a silhouette cut through the dimness of night. Gallows bowed to meet them, and tipped his head until his nose nearly brushed the ground. There was neither time nor favour to gather his wits about the wolf before him, but from the stature of their approach, he knew enough. They were part of the crew, and saw themselves with enough authority to meet him here, stranger as he was upon their shores.

He waited for a voice, but nothing came, even when he cupped his ears forward. Whether or not this was usual procedure, Gallows couldn't tell. Strange lots, these pirates were, every crew a little bit different than the next. It made life difficult - but curious, and he pressed a silence, long and ample for the other to speak before he slid his name through the dark expanse, "Gallows."

His family name was usually enough to herald at least a vague sense of recognition and respect. They'd held renown for decades as a clan proficient in botanical arts, and as a ready supply of healers to a vast many crews along the coast. But if this pirate hailed from a region unaccustomed to their name, he added with equal brevity, and for their sake, "Botanist, toxicologist, physician."
Fear is the heart of love
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He let the silence stretch, and Rosalyn also let it hang, waiting.  He was obviously here for a reason, and while she wasn't an unfriendly sort, she did like a wolf who could take initiative.  Wasn't her who called, after all.  Finally, he spoke a single word.  Gallows.  It sounded a bit like a name, but if it was, his parents were the macab sort weren't they?

"Cheery." She answered with a slight quirk of a smile.  His skills though.... they were of more interest, and this likely showed on her face as he listed them.  "That's an impressive list, I'll admit.. though it doesn't quite answer what yer purpose here is.  Lookin for a crew to join or just decide to let us know yer passin through?"  There was obvious amusement as she said it, though her nature was all in fun.  She was unbothered by the fact he was curt.... his skills made him an interesting find, and his manners were already far better than Tetsubo's had been.
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A smile curled his lips and he turned his bowed head to glance at the pirate with a mischievous glint. "Aye, an' the irony's not lost on me, either."

She turned to inquire a good breath more of him, yet where another's words might've razed him, her query rolled off his shoulders. "A crew, if there's a rung in your ladder for the likes of me." Gallows quite liked the spirit of this one, and if he'd met her in any other instance, he'd've found a good many quips to parry back. But he restrained; for the heartbeat, business took priority.

"I might've hoped to find a certain captain livin amongst these sands. Tall, pale fellow," with this, he drew himself from his prone position and settled at a more comfortable height, in part to get a better glimpse of the pirate he spoke with, and in part, to watch what thoughts she might let flood through her face. The shadows obscured her finer details, but the moonlight revealed a ruddy wolf, well-maintained, with a glint of gold set narrow on either side of her muzzle. She struck no semblance of recognition, but that hardly dampened his prospects. His mouth remained piqued with the slightest curve, "Smokestep. Patched him up a few moons ago. Rumoured a want to start a crew round these shores, and this here's the first crew I've found."
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A sense of humor to this one, and suddenly, his chances and measure upticked a good deal.  As if she wasn't already sold for his merits alone; she was a walking dumpster fire when it came to luck, generally speaking.  The more healers they had, the better.

"Aye, that'd be the Captain, though like as not he's busy at the moment," she responded, surprised and yet not to hear they were acquainted.  She supposed that Smokestep's current bill of health vouched for the physician's skill, though he could be lying.  

"Rules of the crew are pretty simple - it's a lifetime gig, ye abandon us and we hunt ye down.  Captain's orders."  She watched his reaction to that, wondering if it would be an issue. "If that's no problem, I'm guessing we can find the space."  She fell silent, awaiting his response with a small smirk.  She hoped he would accept.
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His slender smile held - the tides be on his side today. Yet even if this hadn't been Smokestep's crew, the russet ambassador charmed him well, and her charisma would've been enough to at least make him pause and reconsider if he should even cast any further than this. Good pickings in crews were worth a fortune, he knew, and to be treasured if found, and he bargained between Smoke and this pirate, he'd found a bloody good one here.

It seemed the crew held a simple overarching rule, and Gallows lent a slight and thoughtful tip of his head. A lifetime oath was no barking matter - but he'd dealt with them before. He nodded. "So's long as the captain proves something of worth, I've no qualms with that." And if the agreement went south - well, there were always ways to fix that.

"But let me ask ye first, from one seafarer to another - now, I know Smokestep, but aye, I reckon not nearly as long or as intimate as you. So if you were in my position, but you knew all about this crew an' it's captain, everything that you do right now, would you still find yerself scrawling yer name along the dotted line?"
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Hmm.  He asked a question that was very in line with her own train of thought each time she delivered the speech.  It was one she thought on often, but never had formulated an answer to.  Now that she was on the spot, however, it came to her after a moment, as she paused to reflect fully.

"Aye."  She said, sure in her tone.  If she had been asked initially, as he was, likely the answer would have been no.  Rosalyn didn't have a lot, but self-respect was one thing she took pride in, and if her loyalty was to be wavering she at least would be upfront about it.  Pledging a life to a Captain she knew nothing of? Insanity.  But pledging it to the crew she had come to know and appreciate was a different matter entirely.

"There's somethin here worth bein a part of, for as long as it continues."  She expanded, serious despite her smile.  "And worth workin at to keep it goin.  That's a rare find by my estimation."  Surely she had found few in the past.
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#9
He sensed nothing but conviction in that one simple word, unwavering and resolved. To commit oneself, whole body and life, to a captain and crew - it held an air of uncertainty as thick the fog rolling off the sea. But if he'd wanted safe, he wouldn't've chosen the life of a pirate. Diving headlong into a dark and hungry sea was part of the deal - deadly, if you leapt blind without eye or care for the rocks to dash you, but if you looked first, you could well land yourself in the richest bounty you'd ever find. 

And in this, the decision wasn't hard. "Then count me a part 'a this, mate." He stood to his height now, and grinned through his words. The most prized treasure was often the riskiest to find, but this here seemed a treasure worth chasing.
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He was in! Wonderful.  She so loved a successful recruiting, even if he'd been the one to seek her out.  It felt great to be strengthening the crew and adding mates who would keep this ship afloat.  Especially ones she felt she could naturally get along with, and this guy seemed to fit that bill perfectly.  In no small part because the friendliness seemed to be mutual.

"Then welcome!  I can take ye to @Smokestep, but fer now, how about I show ye around?". She winked, preparing to lead the way into the deeper parts.  She would show him the forests and beach and explain some of the ins and outs of the crew.

tag for reference! You can assume she tries to find smoke and lets him know his bud's here/reintroduces them

we can fade here or play out a little more! I'll title you up :D
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#11
I'd love to keep going for a bit! :D
She seemed genuinely pleased to have him aboard, and this only furthered the stretch of his grin. "I'd love a grand tour. Sights are always better with good company." He returned the wink of the she-who-has-not-been-named and crossed the threshold of the old life and the new, to follow her deeper still.

She was quick to fill his ear with the way of the crew, what made them unique. All the while, he took in the land that stretched out around them, felt the sand squeeze between his toes, listened to the soothing ebb of the ocean. Beautiful, but lot's to remember - both sights and sounds - and after the general briefing, he spun his inquiries to sieve out the most important information for tonight. "I'd liked to settle as smooth and as useful as I can. So then - a physician like meself. The rung I'd want to climb, that'd be the Cooper, 'ventually leading to the Bos'n, from what yer saying. But could a wolf also move from Lookout and Striker to Bos'n the same?"
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She didn't realize she hadn't introduced herself until she was well into introducing the other crew members... and then she realized he hadn't even gotten her own name yet.    

"I'd reckon so.  Way I see it... depends on yer interested focus.  If you run bos'n, you want to use your skills to support the pack from within.  Striker, you use them to support it outside the borders, least in large part."  That was her own preference to this point, roaming the regions around.  "So if yer the type to want to be here near the beach itself, I'd say any of em could lead to bos'n."

She paused in her stride momentarily.  "By the way... name's Rosalyn.  Or Roz if you prefer.  First mate to the Captain.". Introductions had never been a huge strong suit, but she was improving in the formalities slowly.
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He considered her words, and turned them over to process their worth. The logic ran sound, and Gallows decided he would continue these thoughts once he settled somewhere quiet and alone. Her name almost slipped unheard through the night, and perhaps for another so deep in thought, it would have - but as a medic, he had learned to concentrate, and to listen all the same.

"That reasoning makes right sense to me." Gallows had already given his name, so he simply took the time to remember hers. "Rosalyn. Flows well from the tongue." He canted his head and offered a boyish grin, "near like the waves themselves." He'd hardly been bothered by his lack of knowing; Gallows had met some pirates who'd held their monikers so close, they'd lived and died as the only souls who'd ever known them. Even now he wondered if Roz's name was the one of her heart, or if she had concealed that from him. He wouldn't blame her - he was a mere sprout here, after all - and he trusted a day would come when she would make that known. "You must have a fair history with the sea behind you, or some mighty works, if the Captain's seen it fit with him to trust you as his second."
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He's a charmer, she thought appreciatively as he commented on her name, and she returned with an appreciative, light hum.  "It does, doesn't it?" She'd always loved her name, and wasn't keen on losing it, though she knew now that was the custom.  Likely one she'd try to avoid.

"I do, though that isn't how I got the job.  Felt I deserved it, so I challenged his pick."  She didn't mention the real reasoning, or the fallout... water under the bridge.  "Never been much good at falling in line."  At this she glanced a little devilishly, a smirk that showed no remorse for that fact.  She quite liked her forwardness and had no desire to change it anytime soon. "You said you were a seafarer... born and raised?"

 They would continue to chat for a time as she showed him some of the territory, sharing bits of experience companiably.